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T O P I C R E V I E W

Neo2151

Posted - 18 Mar 2018 : 09:48:35 Hello all!

So I didn't really start my D&D adventuring until 3rd edition, but out of sheer bored curiosity I've been looking into (and collecting together) various 2nd Ed books, and was just wondering what FR-specific books are highly recommended?

I'm not looking for Adventures so much as informative books that are specific to the realms; Secrets of the Magister for instance.

Thanks!

14 L A T E S T R E P L I E S (Newest First)

George Krashos

Posted - 26 Mar 2018 : 23:26:57

quote:Originally posted by farinal

I think FRCS, Silver Marches and Lost Empires of Faerun are the best from 3E era since they actually put new lore out there instead of just using the same texts from 2E books and adding a little bit new stuff to them. AFAIK LoEF don't have a similar product in 2E era apart from Arcane Age stuff?

Eric Boyd and I did a LOT of tidying up work for LEoF and used that as an opportunity to add in a ton of history lore that we had come up with over the last decade. That's why the chapters on the High Forest and the Old North have so much new stuff. We also had a bit of a play with Netheril although space constraints prevented us from doing it properly.

-- George Krashos

John Daker

Posted - 26 Mar 2018 : 14:15:34 Is the 3.5 Player's Guide to Faerun a good resource for lore? My group plays 5e mechanics so I had passed on that one, thinking it is really only interesting if you're actually playing 3.5 -- was I mistaken?

farinal

Posted - 21 Mar 2018 : 19:24:54 I think FRCS, Silver Marches and Lost Empires of Faerun are the best from 3E era since they actually put new lore out there instead of just using the same texts from 2E books and adding a little bit new stuff to them. AFAIK LoEF don't have a similar product in 2E era apart from Arcane Age stuff?

Lord Karsus

Posted - 21 Mar 2018 : 01:36:45 -I 3e, I think the best books were: The FRCS, Races of Faerun, Underdark, Player's Guide to Faerun, Serpent Kingdoms, Lost Empires of Faerun, and A Grand History of the Realms.

Brimstone

Posted - 20 Mar 2018 : 13:35:57

quote:Originally posted by farinal

Aside from that let me derail the thread just a little by asking what are the 3E must have books in your opinion? I think probably the FRCS is a must have since it's a compact and huge tome on information about more or less everything.

Lost Empires, Power of Faerun(For Ed's Lore on the Border Kingdoms), Silver Marches, Serpent Kingdoms, and the Waterdeep book.

Oh, and Dragons of Faerun, and Lords of Darkness...

farinal

Posted - 20 Mar 2018 : 09:02:06 Faiths & Avatars, Powers & Pantheons, Demihuman Deities, CLoak & Dagger, Volo's Guide to All Things Magical, then some books according to your interests in the Realms such as the Code of the Harpers, Elves of Evermeet, Dwarves Deep, Drow of the Underdark along with some books detailing the regions you like such as the Volo Guides and Menzoberranzan set.

Aside from that let me derail the thread just a little by asking what are the 3E must have books in your opinion? I think probably the FRCS is a must have since it's a compact and huge tome on information about more or less everything.

Also, if you'd be remotely interested in Zakhara... Ruined Kingdoms is an "adventure" with lore, Complete Necromancer contains a mini-campaign revolving around the isle of Sahu, and Cities of Bone is another good adventure with lore (which I'm just now noting, there was once a giant kingdom named Sokkar down in Zakhara... and it seems to have led into eventually the kingdom of Nogaro alias Nog)

Brimstone

Posted - 18 Mar 2018 : 19:45:33 Code of The Harper's, Seven Sisters, Cult of the Dragon, Cloak and Dagger, and Pages from the Mages are all source books that I have enjoyed. I also agree with the other Scribes recommendations...

Faiths & Avatars, Powers & Pantheons, and Demihuman DeitiesCormanthyr: Empire of the Elves and Netheril: Empire of MagicDrizzt Do'Urden's Guide to the UnderdarkThe Horde, Kara-Tur: The Eastern Realms, al-Qadim: Land of Fate and Maztica Campaign SetAurora's Whole Realms Catalog and Volo's Guide to All Things Magical

Wooly Rupert

Posted - 18 Mar 2018 : 14:39:04 I would recommend:

The three deity books(Faiths & Avatars, Powers & Pantheons, and Demihuman Deities) (the most complete picture of the deities of the Realms that we've had)

Volo's Guide to All Things Magical (a grab-bag of all sorts of magical lore, from Ed's pen)

Forgotten Realms Adventures (originally the conversion book for moving the Realms from 1E to 2E; it's got a wealth of info on a lot of topics; it's the broad overview that really made me notice the Realms)

Aurora's Whole Realms Catalog (to me, customizing equipment is a major thing for a character; this book has just about everything someone in the Realms could think to buy, so long as it's not real estate or magic)

And if there's a Volo's Guide that covers the region you're interested in, get it.

In my not-so-humble opinion, 2E was really the Golden Age of Realmslore. There is so much good stuff, on so many topics... My list here is just kind of a general list; if there were particular areas of interest noted, I'd toss out more stuff.

George Krashos

Posted - 18 Mar 2018 : 11:09:43 So many. But my favorite is “Prayers From the Faithful” - so, so much lore. I get something new every time I read it.